Race, faith and fear: general press and black press coverage of Arabs, Muslims and the stigma of terrorism in the United States.

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Abstract

The global impact of the events of September 11, 2001, provoked an interest in American media coverage of terrorism. With African-Americans making up more than 12 percent of the country’s population and more than 40 percent of the country’s Muslim population, an overview of black press coverage of race relations is juxtaposed with mainstream (white-owned) press coverage of black Americans. An account of the general press' mostly negative coverage of Arab-Americans and Muslims as potential terrorists follows. Clashing viewpoints of the black press and the general press are best explained by the idea that news is culture, reflecting the historical experiences and psychological and sociological makeup of white and black Americans. This content analysis of six newspapers from Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles found important distinctions in results before and after 9/11 but little statistical significance, primarily because of low or "0" scores amongst the minority publications.